The Golden Girls and the Haunted Hotel on Magnolia Street
by kelsschmidt
Summary: Looks like the Golden Girls aren't safe at home anymore! When the AC goes out in their Florida home, they are forced to retreat to the haunted hotel on Magnolia Street.
It was a hot day in Miami. Everything seemed to have a layer of water on it. It was the hottest day the Golden Girls had ever lived through. They had their air conditioner on full blast when all of a sudden the power went out on their street.

Dorothy sat at the kitchen table with her feet in melting ice water. Rose had her head in the freezer, Sophia had two ice packs one on her neck and the other on her chest, and Blanche was misting herself with a spray bottle.

The girls were exhausted. Dorothy took a drink of the quickly warming water. "That's it... I cannot take this heat! I'm losing the water I drink as soon I take it in. I'm calling the electrician—"

Blanche interrupts, "I already called Dorothy. They said they can't get anybody out until Monday morning. Looks like we're just going to have to put up with heat for another day and a half."

"Forget it. I'm out of here. I'm going back to Shady Pines!" Sophia said as she threw her ice packs over to Rose. "Put those back and one of you melting pots drive me to the retirement home."

"Ma! Sit down. You're not going anywhere. We can all deal with the heat," Dorothy said defeated.

"Not me Dorothy. I'm about ready to just die." Blanche says. "Ya know girls...the last time I was in a heat wave like this I was a young girl in Georgia. Oh my sister and I loved the hot weather. My sister n' I would go down to Miss Maude's restaurant and the boys would meet us there. We'd all be sweaty and we'd let Miss Maude's nephews Jack and Callum take turns dumping ice water—

"Blanche!" Dorothy quickly cuts her off. "I don't want to hear another one of your stories. You've blessed us with too many over the years and right now it's a 1000 degrees and I can't handle another one!"

The phone rings.

"I've got it" Rose calls from inside the freezer.

Rose quickly goes and picks up the phone.

"Hello?! Mhm...mhm..okay great! Thank you. Uh-huh yeah, bye. Well I'll let her know you called!" Rose hung up the phone.

"Well Blanche, that was the Hotel over on Magnolia Street. They called to see if everything was alright since you didn't show up with your usual Friday night date." Rose said as she walked back over to the freezer.

Blanche was annoyed "I still cannot believe Santiago stood me up last night! None stands up Blanche Devereaux!"

Sophia sung back to Blanche, "I know why your date stood you up! It's because you stay at haunted hotel! Everyone knows to stay clear of Magnolia streets hotels! Too many ghosts!"

"Ma that's nonsense. There is no such things as ghosts." Dorothy retorted.

"Yeah well you'll be saying different when I come back and haunt you from the afterlife!"

Suddenly a lightbulb went off in Blanche's head. "Girls! That's it girls! Let's rent a room at the hotel and get out of this miserable heat!"

Dorothy stood up from the table as soon as Blanche finished her sentence! "I'm packing now!"

Rose was excited "Oh I can't believe this! Ya know girls back in St. Olaf—"

"Rose shut up and go pack your bags!" cried Sophia.

So the Golden girls packed up their bags, piled into Blanche's car and set off for the hotel on Magnolia Street.

When the girls pulled up to the hotel the valet was empty.

"Wow for such a big hotel this place looks like it hasn't seen life in years!" exclaimed Rose.

"A Sicilian knows haunted when they see it! All I'm saying is I wouldn't stay here alone!" said Sophia.

Blanche cut both of them off. "Would you girls hush, it's got AC, I've stayed here with many gentleman callers, now HUSH!"

The Hotel was located in the oldest part of Miami. The sun washed drapes hung heavy from the years of dust they had collected. A wooden desk with mail slots, consumed by cobwebs, absorbed the now crème colored paper inside of them. The girls found their eyes being drawn up by the high ceiling as soon as they walked in. Their eyes settled on a once grand chandelier that seemed too dim to have once lit the place with life.

Sophia looks around the lobby and whispers to Dorothy, "Wow…with Blanche's five star taste you'd think this hotel wouldn't be such a dump."

Dorothy who is clearly annoyed retorts, "Ma, quiet down. Yes, this place has a few dingy walls, and maybe they could clean the stains on the carpet a little better. Okay, I could do without the gaudy broken chandelier, but overall this place doesn't seem…too…bad?" Dorothy was questioning herself and their choice to come to the hotel as the words were coming out of her mouth.

A sinister voice snapped the girl's attention to the man behind the wooden front desk. "Can I be of assistance?!" he said as he shined his glasses on his shirt. He then placed them back on his face. His glasses didn't seem to sit straight, but that didn't seem to bother him.

Immediately Rose whispered to Dorothy, "Dorothy he reminds me of Old Man Graber from St Olaf, growing up everyone knew to stay off of his lawn because one time my friend Martin said that his cousin walked up to Old Man Graber's door and saw─"

"Rose! Put a sock in it. He's probably just worked here for too many years. Relax." Turning to the desk clerk, Dorothy felt uneasy.

"We just need a room for the night. Our AC is broken back at home."

"Name?"

"Blanche Devereaux."

He shuffled to the back room and returned with two keys

"You ladies keep your doors locked, you never know what can be lurking in the shadows." The desk clerk handed Blanche the keys and disappeared again into the back room.

"Well I've never seen him before. Usually it's Andy,,,or is Samuel who usually is here…I dunno but he gave me the creeps! C'mon girls lets go I'm exhausted."

"You know what's gonna be creepin' in the shadows is you Dorothy if you don't get my bag upstairs." Sophia dropped her bag, and walked over to the elevator.

Dorothy rolled her eyes and picked up her mother's bag. "Whatever Ma, come on Blanche and Rose let's get to bed."

A cloud of dust stirred as the door to their room creaked open.

"I hope the cleaning lady got fired," Sophia said under her breath.

Dorothy heard her mother. "Ma get over it at least there is AC."

Rose walked in and started exploring the room. "Oh look a rocking chair! It reminds me of the one my grandfather used to rock back and forth on in St. Olaf! Maybe this place won't be so bad girls!"

The wood on the bottom of the rocking chair was worn from use. The rest of the room had a different feel, the windows had the same crimson drapes that hung to the sides revealing the dark abyss outside. Two beds lay in the middle of the room below a smaller version of the chandelier that hung in the lobby.

They all begun unpacking the little they brought and slide under the covers.

Dorothy climbed into bed with her mother. "Goodnight Ma,"

"Goodnight my little bug."

"Ma, I'm 64 and taller than you. You're the little bug."

"Sure."

Then they both drifted off into bed.

Blanche already had her eye mask on when Rose climbed into bed with her. "Goodnight Blanche. Blanche, do you really think this hotel is haunted…? Because I don't know if I'll be able to go to sleep if it is…back when I was a little girl there was a haunted barn on the Schneiblehausen's property-"

Blanche lifted up her eye mask, "Rose if you say one more word you are out of here and I'm going to boot you from this room."

"Fine…goodnight."

"Goodnight."

Sophie awoke to faint music that had been lost throughout the generations. Sitting up she realized she was alone. The night seemed to surround her and the cold took hold of her.

"Dorothy? Blanche? Rose? What..? Where are you? Is this a joke? Crap like this would get you shot in Sicily." She whispered fearing the sound of her own voice.

Nothing seemed right, the air hung heavy almost crushing. The music was getting louder, coming closer and closer until the orchestra beat was mimicking her own heartbeat. Footsteps followed but soon was drowned out by the sound of the music. Sophia ran behind the rocking chair covering her ears in agonizing pain from the sound until it was silent. The music stopped but the faint sound of breathing in the doorway remianed. She turned and peaked around the chair, in the hallway light from the open door she could see a shadow and the reflection of herself in the crooked glasses.

"Time to join the others" he said.


End file.
